City Slang: “Paradise” revisited

Back in ’89 when Inner City put out the debut Paradise album, barriers were being broken. Techno and, to be honest, all forms of electronic music was still new, and those that did listen to it were part of an underground secret movement that regular people weren’t privy too.

And then Inner City came along. They weren’t the only ones – bands like S-Express and Technotronic also played a big part in bringing house to the houses. But Inner City did it with more style than most.

Formed by Detroit techno pioneer Kevin Saunderson (one of the Belleville Three, along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May) and Chicago native Paris Grey, Inner City released three albums after this one, but nothing that matched Paradise, certainly in terms of sales.

This album was a monster. The hits poured out of it one after the other. The incredible “Big Fun” was followed by the anthemic “Good Life”. Next came “Ain’t Nobody Better”, then “Do You Love What You Feel”, and finally “Watcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’”.

Four Dance Chart number 1’s. A number 3 position in the UK national album charts (although, strangely enough, the album only reached 162 in the Billboard top 200 – apparently US dance fans prefer singles to albums). Inner City made waves around the world, and those songs still sound fresh today. Give the record another spin for proof.